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Heritage World Coin Auctions
NYINC Signature Sale 3037 Sess. 2-4  5 January 2015
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Lot 30988

Estimate: 5000 USD
Price realized: 3400 USD
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Ancients
Philippicus (Bardanes) (AD 711-713). AV solidus (21mm, 4.44 gm, 6h). Constantinople, 10th officina. ∂N FILЄPICЧS MЧL-TЧS AN, crowned facing bust, wearing loros, holding globus cruciger in right hand and eagle-tipped scepter in left / VICTORIA AVςЧ, cross potent set upon three steps; I//CONOB. Sear 1449. DOC 3b. MIB 3. Rare! Minor obverse die break, otherwise an absolutely perfect specimen, crisply struck from fresh dies and fully lustrous. Quite likely the finest-known example! NGC Gem MS★ 5/5 - 5/5.From The Lexington Collection of Jonathan K. Kern.Part of a debilitating string of short-lived rulers, Bardanes was a general of Armenian origins who was proclaimed Emperor upon the final overthrow of Justinian II. Almost immediately, he alienated the clergy and populace by reviving the Monothelete heresy (proposing that Christ had a single, divine nature and will) which had supposedly been stamped out decades previously. He was also unsuccessful in stopping Arab and Bulgarian advances, prompting the Byzantine army to depose and blind him after 18 months of ineffective rule. He was replaced by the finance minister Artemius, who reigned as Anastasius II. This extraordinary piece shows the unusually fine artistry employed on the coinage for so ephemeral a reign, showing the emperor holding two symbols of office dating back to Roman times: The globus cruciger and scipio aquila, a scepter topped by an eagle. The grade of Gem MS★ is the highest possible grade assigned by NGC to an ancient coin.

Estimate: 5000-7000 USD
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